So, there’s a diary currently on the rec list about Bernie Sanders voting against Obama’s FDA nominee, while Elizabeth Warren voted for him. It descended into the usual back-and-forth between the Bernie and Hillary camps.
What’s funny/sad/pathetic is that it appears nobody on EITHER side bothered to read the actual article, which showed Bernie Sanders did NOT vote against Obama’s nominee.
From the article itself:
Senate lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm Robert Califf, a longtime cardiologist and academic researcher, as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
The final tally was 89 to 4. ….
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) has staunchly opposed Califf’s confirmation, insisting that his professional history — a 2014 financial disclosure showed his salary at Duke was underwritten partly by funding from large drugmakers such as Eli Lilly and Merck, and drug companies helped fund research studies he oversaw — would prevent him from aggressively regulating the industry and looking out for ordinary patients.
Califf said in his confirmation hearing last fall that the drug companies routinely funds such studies and that working the industry is a modern necessity, but that Duke's contracts protected the independence of investigators to publish research outcomes, whatever the results. He said he had never advocated for lowering standards around the safety or efficacy of drugs and wouldn't as head of the FDA. He repeated that vow in an interview Wednesday. ….
The most ardent and sustained criticism of Califf's nomination came from Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who repeatedly expressed frustration over what they describe as the FDA’s lax approach to opioid painkillers amid an epidemic of prescription-drug abuse. The pair this week criticized the FDA’s recent promises to strengthen follow-up studies on painkiller use and to convene more outside expert panels before approving certain opioids as weak and unlikely to help combat the ongoing crisis. Both voted against his confirmation; they were joined only by senators Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Markey and Manchin said they were disappointed with Califf's confirmation but would continue to push for more aggressive measures to fight opioid abuse.
Hm, wait a second, those are the four that voted against him. Where’s Bernie? Oh, the roll call vote shows he wasn’t there. Neither were Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio. Because they’re all on the campaign trail right now, not in D.C.
Now, I’m going to stay out of this pie fight over whether Califf should or should not have been confirmed. I’m just going to note that we’re supposed to be the reality-based community, and if BOTH sides are fighting over a “No” vote that NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED, we’ve got some serious issues to work out here.